The popular Cash for the Community campaign is back - and this year there's even more money on offer to community groups in Cambridgeshire.

The News has once again teamed up with The Cambridge Building Society to give away a whopping £12,000 to 15 local community-based not-for-profit organisations.

Launched in 2011, Cash for the Community offers financial support to community groups and helps raise awareness of the great work they do.

The News’ editor David Bartlett said: “We’re pleased to be able to work with The Cambridge to support our local community and can’t wait to find out who will make the final 15.

“Cash for the Community is a great way to raise the profile of smaller community groups and charities and having supporters play a part in helping them get a share of the pot is a lovely way to help make a difference.”

To enter, organisations need to fill in an application form. From the entries received the team at The Cambridge will select 10 groups to be in the running to receive a share of the £12,000. The remaining five places will be put to an online public vote.

Once the 15 groups have been chosen, it will be down to readers, the local community and supporters of the organisations to collect as many tokens printed in the News as possible.

At the end of the campaign the value of each token collected will be calculated and the money divided in relation to how many tokens were sent in for each group.

Last year more than 17,500 tokens were collected and the highest share of the pot went to Chestnut and Acorn House (The Sick Children’s Trust), which received £2,101. No group went home with less than £200.

The Cambridge’s chief executive Stephen Mitcham said: “Cash for the Community is a brilliant way for us to support many different charities and community groups in the region that don’t already benefit from our partnership or donation programmes.

“We love receiving all the entries as it gives us a chance to find out about the huge number of groups there are catering for a wide variety of different communities.

"It was an easy decision to increase the funding because there are so many deserving charities who rely on financial support.

“If there is a charity or community group you feel could really use some extra funds then please make sure you let them know about this campaign.”

How will it work?

Whether you are a charity, community group, school or community club* that operates within the Cambridge News distribution area, you could be in with a chance of receiving funding from The Cambridge Building Society.

All you need to do is fill in the application form online or in the newspaper, which needs to be sent to The Cambridge Cash for the Community campaign, The Cambridge Building Society, PO Box 232, 51 Newmarket Road, Cambridge, CB5 8FF by 5pm on Monday, July 10, 2017.

Team members from The Cambridge will then choose 10 groups from all of the eligible applications.

The panel will also pick another 10 groups who will each be given a chance to take one of the final five spaces. This will be down to an online public vote that will appear on the social media accounts of The Cambridge Building Society and the News from Thursday, July 13. The poll will close at 11.59pm on Sunday, July 16 and the five groups with the most votes will join the other 10 groups to become the final 15.

Starting on Monday, July 17, each of the 15 organisations will be profiled in the News. The first of the 24 tokens will appear on Monday, July 24. The remaining tokens will appear daily up until and including Saturday, August 19.

Readers of the News and supporters of the successful groups need to cut out as many of the 24 tokens as they can on behalf of one of the 15 successful groups and take them into one of The Cambridge Building Society’s branches or the News offices. The tokens must be delivered no later noon on Thursday, August 24. A form to complete detailing how many coupons you’ve collected and which group these are for will be available to download or cut out of the News.

The total number of tokens will then be divided by 12,000, which will indicate how much each token is worth. Each of the organisation’s tokens will then be counted and the total sum will be given out to each of the organisations in The Cambridge Cash for the Community’cheque presentation, which will be held in early September.

Full details of the campaign, key dates and terms and conditions are available to view at cambridgebs.co.uk/cashforthecommunity and at cambridge-news.co.uk

*A full list of eligible groups is detailed in the campaign terms and conditions.

18/01/16 - Cash for the Community launch pictures - Stephen Mitcham at The Cambridge Building Society HQ. Picture: Keith Jones

Terms and conditions

1. The application form must be filled out in full. Paper copies should be sent to: The Cambridge Cash for the Community Campaign, The Cambridge Building Society, PO Box 232, 51 Newmarket Road, Cambridge, CB5 8FF.

2. Deadline for application form submission is Monday, July 10, 2017 (5pm). Application forms received after this date will not be eligible.

3. You must have the authority in the group or the permission of someone who has, to apply for the funding on behalf of the group.

4.The funding is open to the following groups:

Local charities

Local body of a national charity

Local community groups

Local school projects

Local welfare organisations

Local youth groups

Local sporting groups

5. Groups which are part of The Cambridge Building Society’s current Partnership or Donation programmes may not apply.

6. All entries will be looked at by team members of The Cambridge Building Society and the final decision will be at the discretion of The Cambridge Building Society and the News.

7. The 15 groups will be chosen in two ways;

The first 10 will be chosen by a team at The Cambridge Building Society

The final five will be selected by the public via an online poll which will be linked to by the social media accounts of The Cambridge Building Society and the News

The poll will include 10 groups shortlisted by the team at The Cambridge Building Society.

The poll will run from Thursday, July 13, 2017 to Sunday, July 16, 2017 (11.59pm).

8. Entries will only be accepted from those groups within the Cambridge News distribution area.

9. A valid email address and telephone number must be given to allow The Cambridge Building Society to contact you if your group is successful.

10. The 15 successful groups will be required to take part in promotional activity as requested by The Cambridge Building Society and the Cambridge News.

11. The first token will appear in the News on Monday, July 24, 2017.

12. One token will appear each day up to and including Saturday, August 19, 2017.

13. Tokens must be cut out and placed in a sealed envelope, with the form that will be available to detail how many tokens you’ve collected and which group they are for.

14. Tokens must then be taken into one of the branches of The Cambridge Building Society or the News offices.

15. Only original tokens will be counted, no photocopies will be accepted.

16. Tokens will be collated and verified by selected representatives from The Cambridge Building Society and the 15 successful organisations will be notified how much funding they will receive at the cheque presentation being held at a date TBC w/c September 4, 2017.

17. The value of each token will only be decided after the closing date has passed. The £12,000 will then be divided by the total number of tokens submitted and this will determine the face value of each individual token.

18. If any of the 15 successful groups do not have any tokens submitted by readers, they are not guaranteed to receive a donation.

19. The tokens received for each group will then be multiplied by the face value of the token to determine how much each group will receive.

20. The Cambridge Building Society may complete checks to confirm the identity of the group and may disqualify any group that is deemed to have submitted a false application.

21. Submitting your application to us constitutes acceptance of these terms and conditions.